The Fool on the Hill
by Starcharter-75
Summary: The year is 1978. Garnet and Pearl are just one in a growing movement. However, when information this sensitive gets in the wrong hands, it can have devastating effects on Garnet, Pearl, and their loved ones. (Inspired by the Steven Universe fanfic: Idiosyncrasies.)
1. The Fool on the Hill, Part I

**Author's Stuff: Welcome to my latest one-shot, in celebration of SU's one year anniversary! I know, I was a little late, but better late than never! And yes, it is based on/a sequel of (pick one) the SU erotica fic 'Idiosyncrasies.' No, this will not go in the direction that either _Purple Prose_ or the former went, so smut-lovers have come to the wrong place. If you ARE looking for smut, I suggest seeing the fic that this is based on.**

**As for The Pursuit of Happiness, that will be updated soon. I just need to catch up on the remaining SU episodes that I haven't seen, okay?**

**Good! With that out of the way, I present to you: this! (You can read the title) Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>It was just a normal day in Beach City; well, as normal as-<p>

Actually, that's not a good opening. I'll just cut to the chase, then: Amethyst was sitting on a bench at a bus stop. It was kind of hot, but not sticky, either; typical of this time of year. But anyway, Amethyst was just sitting there, when a man sat down next to her.

He was a strange-looking man, kind of old. He wore a black coat and hat despite the weather, and square spectacles shrouded his eyes. Amethyst turned to him.

"Hello there!" Amethyst scooted closer to him, buzzing with enthusiasm.

"Hello," he responded, resigned and somewhat dull.

"I don't think I've seen you before."

"I don't think I know you either."

"What's your name?" The man sighed.

"John," he responded, after a pause. It was then that everything came together in Amethyst's mind.

"Oh, I know you, you're that Gospel John guy!" Amethyst extended her arm towards Gospel John. "My name's Amethyst."

"Hello, Amethyst," John said, shaking her hand in return. The two were quiet afterward for a time, until Amethyst spoke up once more.

"So… where are you going?"

"Over there." John pointed to a building on a hill: The Delmarva Church of the Latter-Day Salvation.

"You live there?"

"I work there."

"Are you a preacher?"

"How did you know?"

"Rose told us about you."

"Rose?"

"Oh yeah, you don't know her. She lives with her."

"Hmm. Do you think that she might be interesting in attending my services?"

"Na, you frighten her." John was slightly angered at the statement, but restrained his emotions as best as he could. "But maybe my other two friends would be interested."

"Who are they?"

"One of them is Garnet, and the other is Pearl."

"Your family has some weird names."

"We're not really family; we're just associated with each other."

"Like roommates?"

"Kinda."

"Tell me about them," John asked, his curiosity piqued for some strange reason.

"Well, Garnet works out. A LOT. I mean, she's got these killer abs, and this perfect butt, and incredible ti-"

"I get the idea. And Pearl?"

"Pearl's all prim and proper and stuff. Not the most fun person to be around, especially a few years ago. I started taking this stuff, I mean, it was just what people did, and Pearl went all goody-two-shoes on me."

"Those times are over now."

"Don't tell me you're like her."

"I'm an old man. These things are strange… foreign to me."

"Well, anyway, Pearl and I actually went through her underwear drawer the other night! It was so fun! But anyway, then I left, and then Pearl disappeared, and then I saw Garnet pass by about a half-hour later. I mean, she was all sweaty, and her muscle shirt was sticking to-"

"I really don't need to hear this."

"Well anyway, then she disappeared for a while too, and apparently, they were getting it on in her room, and then-

"Wait… so Garnet is a girl?"

"Uh, yeah," Amethyst responded, beginning to grow annoyed with Gospel John's insistence on interrupting her quite fascinating stories.

"Pearl as well?"

"Yes," Amethyst responded, now with a definite tone in her voice.

"So they are…" John's voice trailed off; he didn't need to say anything else.

"Uh… what's so weird about that?" John's face contorted in anger, but relaxed a moment later, though his voice came out even more restrained than before.

"Nothing… it's just that this sort of thing… it didn't happen when I was a young man… these are strange times indeed…" Before either one of them could respond, a bus stopped in front of them. "This is my bus."

"Well, I'll see you later," Amethyst waved.

"Goodbye, Amethyst." John stumbled slightly on his way onto the bus. Amethyst just sat, waiting for the next person to join her at the bus stop, ignoring the way that everyone moved away from the preacher once he sat down.


	2. The Fool on the Hill, Part II

Attendees of the Delmarva Church of the Latter-Day Salvation were in for a different kind of a homily today.

Of course, Greg Universe had no way of knowing this when he came in for the Saturday vigil. He was sure of this much, though: Gospel John was a nut. His speeches were crazy and energetic both inside and outside the church, he was as animated as a cartoon character and just as attention-grabbing. On the streets, he'd shout and rave his extremist opinions about the church and stuff about damnation and salvation and some other third word. His raving was just as bad during his homilies, but at least there his ranting was focused, allowing for a clearer understanding of what he was saying. Besides, it was preferable to see him to get worked up at a specific time and place rather than out in the street when you were trying to do something else.

Regardless, Gospel John had been successful in other areas of Delmarva, and from the looks of it, he was establishing roots in Beach City as well. Greg sat down at one of the pews, having come here with his own troubles. Maybe John's God could help him.

The mass began. John seemed quiet and collected, but as Greg had learned on his previous visit, you could never be too sure about how John felt about anything; he could be quiet one second and loud the next. The readings were read as normal, hymns were had. Tonight's Gospel reading involved that man named Jesus that John always mentioned. He was fasting in the desert, for some reason, and a man attempted to get him to eat something, but he refused.

"Maybe Jesus should eat something," Greg thought to himself, looking at the picture inside the book that he had picked up from under his seat. "He looks very thin." Eventually, the point of apprehension was reached: the homily.

Now, as I said, Greg had come to expect anything from Gospel John. He could get upset about the tiniest details of someone's life, and even worse, bad-mouth them in his homilies. But all that preparation couldn't prepare him for tonight's homily.

"My friends," he began, "I have learned of a great disturbance in our fair city. A horrible sin has been committed on our own land…"

So far, so normal. Greg listened with growing interest.

"It is a horrible sin, and I have come to urge you that something must be done about it. The sin…"

Greg leaned in, his face pleading John for an answer.

"…of lust."

Uh… interesting turn. Greg settled back into his seat, still interested, but confused about what direction the homily would go in now.

"A new, dangerous lust has settled unto this city. It has struck us, and it struck two of our most prominent citizens. Surely you know them? Garnet? Pearl?"

Greg did know them. They were famous as residents of this place, though they were still relatively mysterious.

"Some call them queer, some call them other names, but I prefer one name for them- sinners. They've defied our holy book, the holy will of God above…"

Greg couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew that someone would address the admittedly taboo subject of homosexuals eventually, but not like this! He remained frozen in his seat.

"And you've all seen what's going on in New York City, the sinners doing their evil works there. And now here! What's next? Prostitution ads in newspapers? The tarnishing of what we have worked so hard to maintain? No, I will not have this desecration upon our city! Something must be done about this!"

It was then that the man next to him stood up.

"John has a point! We can't be associated with these people; we'll be shunned as a city!"

"Now here is a man who has some senses in his head," John exclaimed, taking control of the homily once more. "We shall drive them out of this city, tonight!"

Greg stood up, hoping that his words might weaken the radical words of John.

"But what about the monsters?"

"What do those damned monsters have to do with this?" John exclaimed, turning to Greg. His cold stare made Greg want to sit down again, but he continued his sentence.

"Well, Beach City seems to get attacked by monster a lot… the Gems are the reason the monsters get stopped… aren't they?"

"He's right!" Another woman stood up. "Besides, don't you think you're judging them too quickly? I mean-"

"Those Gems are the reason that these monster come in the first place!" The two sat down, defeated. "The fact that they've righted their mistake and defeated these monsters makes no difference! Those who put our precious city in the line of danger must be dealt with decisively! Now who's with me?!"

People began standing up, one or two at a time, no doubt overcome by both the emotion of the moment and the forces of intolerance, the same intolerance that had been fought in the previous decade. Eventually, all except Greg and that other woman were standing.

"And in the name of God above," he shouted, walking towards the exit of the place as his voice grew in volume, "We will not rest until these sinners have been exiled from our precious city!"

Voice rose, curses rang out in Greg's ears, who remained frozen in his seat as the mob marched out of the church, leaving only him and the woman, both stunned and confused like a duck hit on the head.


	3. The Fool on the Hill, Part III

"Where's Rose?"

"Eh, she dropped me off here and then went to that church."

"Hmm." A moment of silence followed before Amethyst seemed to remember something. A mischievous smile crept onto her face.

"So, how are you and Pearl doing?"

Garnet turned around, surprised._ How did she know?_

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't act like you don't know! I heard you from outside!"

"Outside of where?"

"You know what I'm talking about, you horndog! It was so loud! I never knew that anyone could make somuch noise when they were fuc-"

"Have you told anyone?"

"Huh?"

"Does anyone else know about it?"

"Well, uh…"

"You told someone."

"It was a man at a bus stop."

"Who was he?"

"Well, he had a black coat, uh, and a black hat, and he wore these square spectacles…"

"Gospel John."

"Uh, yeah."

"And Rose is at his mass right now."

"Yeah."

Garnet sighed gruffly, concealing her frustration. Bad enough that she had told anyone at all, but she had to tell one of the least emotionally controllable men in town. Knowing him, he was probably talking about her and Pearl right now. Which also presented another problem: Rose didn't know yet. Garnet had planned on telling her, but she simple hadn't gotten around to it, and hearing such a big secret from this madman of a pastor was not her reveal of choice, to say the least.

"Why does she keep going to that church anyway? If that guy frightens her like she says he does, then why doesn't she just stop going?" Garnet could feel her hands trembling; her frustration became hard to restrain. Still, she stopped herself, and did her best not to release her emotions, just as she had been trained to in battle.

"The humans fascinate her," Garnet responded, and said nothing more. Amethyst began to walk towards the Temple, no longer interested in the conversation. Not a word was exchanged as Amethyst entered her room before the door closed behind her.

Now that Garnet was sure that she was alone, she sat down on the couch near her and tried to ease the growing apprehension in her stomach. She'd punish Amethyst later, when everything was righted, but for now, Garnet would have some explaining to do to Rose when she came back, whenever that was. She'd also have to face the reaction of the townspeople, which likely would not be the worst thing in light of the coming-out movement of recent times. But how would Pearl react? Garnet already had to worry about her freaking out every December when she forgot to buy a sweater for herself, and that was something extremely small; imagine how she react about-

"Garnet?" A voice snapped Garnet out of her concentration. She looked up to see a concerned Pearl. "I need to talk to you." Garnet didn't respond, she just made a slight nod, and Pearl walked over and sat down next to her.

"What is it?"

"Garnet, I don't want you to be mad at me for this."

"You know that I can't promise that."

"Well, uh, the thing is, it was after I left you room that night…"

* * *

><p>I returned to my room to do some more sword practice, but of course, Amethyst had taken one of my swords, so I went to her room to get it back. She insisted on not having it, but I insisted on searching.<p>

"You could at least tell me what you were doing to make so much noise," she had insisted. At first, I didn't know what she was talking about.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, P, I heard you from down here!"

She had heard us making love! Flabbergasted, I had struggled to find the right words to explain myself, but it was useless. "What were you doing?" she insisted

"N-nothing!"

"Come on," she persisted, in that mischievous voice of hers that she gets whenever she knows I'm lying.

"Nothing! We were doing NOTHING!" Amethyst was quiet after that, and I found my sword a few seconds later, and I left the room as quickly as I could. But she knew.

* * *

><p>"Did Amethyst tell you already?"<p>

"What do you think?" Pearl sighed, already knowing the answer.

"Did she tell anyone else?"

"What do you think?" Once again, Pearl knew the answer.

"Who did she tell?" There was an urgency in his voice, and Garnet decided to be blunt with the answer.

"Gospel John." Pearl's eyes widened.

"No," she moaned in disbelief, but had no choice but to believe it. "No, not that madman! Not him!" The white Gem buried her hands in her face and began crying. "Why did that stupid twat tell him?! Why?!" Pearl looked up at Garnet, almost expecting an answer. She moved closer to Garnet, and Garnet took her in an embrace. Pearl now cried into Garnet's shoulder, and Garnet did her best to comfort Pearl: pats on the back, the continue embrace, and a kiss on the forehead every now and then. Finally, when Pearl's tears were exhausted, Pearl spoke again. "What are we gonna do?"

"Don't worry about them. It's our job to protect them, not to meddle in their lives. If this is a problem to them, then there's nothing we can do about it but to accept it." Garnet once more kissed Pearl on the forehead. "And everything will be fine."

"You promise?"

"Of course I-"

This lovely romantic moment was cut off by the sound of glass shattering. Garnet and Pearl turned their heads to notice a newly-broken window with a note.

"Aww, it was just getting good!" Garnet and Pearl again turned their heads to find Amethyst, who had infringed on their privacy at some point.

"Amethyst!"

"So what? It wouldn't be the first time."

"Well, someone oughta clean the glass up."

"Who did that?!" Amethyst raced over to the window to chase away whoever was disrupting Garnet and Pearl's peaceful moment, but was quite surprised at what she saw instead. "Uh, guys, we have a bit of a problem out here…"


	4. The Fool on the Hill, Part IV

Garnet and Pearl walked towards Amethyst and looked out the window to find an angry throng of people on the sidewalk next to their house. Various voices rose up in an incomprehensible chorus.

And Gospel John was the leader of the hellish choir. Standing a good distance in front of the crowd, he was almost camouflaged in the darkness of the night, but was still somewhat visible. Garnet groaned; she knew that this was going to happen. He found the Gems staring at him from the window, and began speaking.

"You must be the Gems," he began, surprising calm. His persuasive voice, as anyone who heard him ranting in the street would recognize. "We come to save you, to bring you into the light!"

"…says the man dressed in black," retorted Amethyst.

"You hush, you're not in this! Of course, this is specifically directed at two people in particular. Is the person of the house there?"

"Just a sec!" Amethyst turned to face the two lovebirds. "Where's Rose?!"

"She was at the…church."

"Whose patrons are out there, and Rose would have none of this… so where is she?!"

Oh yes, I almost forgot about Rose. Thank you for reminding me, Amethyst. It seems we have to go back fifteen minutes in the chronology of the story, so that's what we'll do.

* * *

><p><em>Fifteen minutes ago…<em>

A silence settled over the church as soon as the voices had faded away. Nothing moved for what felt like a long time. It was finally Greg who had stood up. Having no one else to talk to, he approached the pink-haired woman. She looked up at him.

"I don't understand them," she mused. "They can be so irrational sometimes…"

"I don't get them either," Greg concurred. "I thought John's God could help me understand it. I guess I was wrong."

"The man is a mystery. But he's the only one around here who knows anything about this God. Still, this…" She shook her head. "It's inexcusable."

"Yeah…"

Rose's head shot up to Greg, as if she had remember something important. "We have to stop him."

"Why? It's two people again an entire mob!"

"What's the problem?" She jumped up, grabbed Greg by the wrist, and quickly led him out of the Temple.

"Where are we going?"

"To the Crystal Temple. We have to stop him before it's too late!"

That was fifteen minutes ago. Back to the present!

* * *

><p><em>Fifteen minutes later…<em>

"She's not here; you'll have to come back later!"

"In that case," John insisted, his voice as loud and powerful as ever, "Would the two people in question come to the window?"

Amethyst moved away from the window, and the two stepped forward. They were greeted by a chorus of boos, slurs, and the occasional rock thrown at them. The jeering failed to affect Garnet, while Pearl was much more visually distraught at the situation; she looked as if she had no idea how she was going to handle the situation, especially since she was almost always the one who planned everything for the Gems.

"Sinners! Fornicators!" He paused. "We have come to give you a second chance. Aren't you concerned about where you're going to spend the rest of eternity?"

"We're immortal," Garnet responded bluntly.

"This is private property!" Amethyst shouted. "So go away!" Garnet and Pearl turned to find Amethyst's head poking out of another window.

"Amethyst!" Pearl shouted.

"Let her," Garnet commanded.

"This is a public sidewalk," someone in the crowd shouted back. "We have every right to be here!" An enthusiastic roar of approval followed from the crowd, and a chant started from them after that.

"Gay is not the way, gay is not the way," they chanted. Garnet looked on without any hint of any sort of emotion, Pearl's apprehension at the situation was growing, and Amethyst was generally annoyed that these people were still here, especially on a Saturday night.

While all of this was going on, another man approached John with something large in his hands. He whispered something to John, then handed him the item.

"Where did you get this?" The man took what looked like a wallet out and showed something in there to him. It was probably a badge; the man was a cop, after all.

John looked down at the object for a moment, as if he wasn't sure whether to accept it or not. The moonlight gave the Gems a better view of the item: a double-barrel rifle.

He nodded. The man went back into the crowd, leaving John with the gun.


	5. The Fool on the Hill, Part V

"Homosexuality is an abomination!"

"That T-shirt's an abomination," Amethyst retorted. Pearl chuckled, and even Garnet couldn't help but smile. The man standing next to John, whom the insult was directed at, walked back into the crowd, now ashamed of his 'Disco Sucks' T-shirt.

This whole affair had been going on for almost a half-hour now, and the two parties were at a stalemate. The chanting from the crowd had died away long ago, and some of the people began to leave. Even Gospel John's enthusiasm for the planned eviction had started to wane. But this recent insult boosted John's resolve.

"Now listen here, sinners!" He raised the rifle and shook it at them as if it would make them more inclined to listen to him. "If you will not release your resistance, then we will remove you by force!" Amethyst burst out laughing at John's latest threat.

"I'd like to see you try!" Amethyst chuckled, trying to suppress her laughter.

John's blood boiled at this latest statement. _These damn queers don't know me very well_, he thought to himself. _It's time for a proper introduction_.

"Then in the name of God," he shouted. "You will suffer for you insolence!"

* * *

><p>"We're here."<p>

Rose stared up at the Temple, and quickly noticed the crowd standing in front of the Temple. A black figure seemed to be at their front door.

"Just as I feared," Rose thought to herself. Greg stood behind her, panting; the two had run nonstop across town.

"You live here?"

"Yes," Rose responded. "I live with Garnet and Pearl. But they didn't tell me about this."

"I'm sorry that this all happened so quickly for you."

"It's not your fault. Besides, I wouldn't have been upse-"

The conversation was interrupted by a loud '_bang!_' in the distance. Both of them looked up and saw the black figure banging on the door of the Temple. "We'll talk later; I have to go do something." And Rose left to go deal with Gospel John.

* * *

><p><em>BANG! <em>_BANG! __BANG!_

Bang after bang against the door of the Crystal Temple. The bangs seemed to awaken the crowd from the trance that the pastor had placed over them; they realized John's true colors. Not wanting to be associated with the pastor anymore, they all fled the scene.

But these things weren't important to an enraged Gospel John. What mattered was that he'd shows these foolish sinners that you don't mess with the holy book, and thus the banging continued. _BANG! BA_-

"What do you think you're doing?!" Rose shouted.

"Rose!" Pearl shouted.

"What gives you any right to dictate how other people live?!" Rose shouted.

"I am a minister!" John shouted back. "I'm allowed to preach in any public form!"

"You call this preaching?! This is terrorism!"

"Why don't you just mind your own business?!"

"I live here! This is CERTAINLY my business!"

"Ooh boy, he's asking for it…" Amethyst giggled, knowing what would happen next.

And surely enough, it did happen: John came crashing through the door a second later and landed against the wall on the opposite side of the room. He came to his feet as Rose stormed into the house.

"Stay back!" John shouted, raising his rifle. "I'm armed!" Rose ignored his words and began walking towards him. The three other Gems just looked on, not willing to interfere in the situation. "I'm warning you!" Rose again ignored him. Amethyst looked on in complete bliss as Gospel John would finally be taught a little respect. But her hopes were dashed a moment later.

* * *

><p>A gunshot.<p>

Rose's body falling to the ground like a ragdoll thrown against it.

A cloud of pink dust, a little '_clink_' against the ground.

Rose's Gem.

Silence.


	6. The Fool on the Hill, Part VI

A second passed, before action set in once more. Pearl and Garnet held Amethyst back, who made every effort to charge at John. Speaking of, he just stared down as if he had no idea what he had just done.

"LET ME AT HIM!" Amethyst cried. "I'LL KILL HIM FOR THIS! I'LL KILL HIM!"

John stared up, and for a split second, he looked horrified at his actions, but he then swallowed his emotion and turned back to them.

"Now, y-you… I could kill you so easily…"

All three backed away in fear. Amethyst began crying. He had broken her, she'd do anything he'd tell her to, just no more of this. Garnet and Pearl seemed less affected, but still clearly shaken.

"And now that I have made an example of her, I'll make an example of…"

John's sentence droned off as he saw the trio's facial expressions changed. All of their fear from a second earlier was gone. John turned around, confused.

There she was; Rose was standing there as if nothing had happened.

"No…" John muttered in disbelief. "No! Witchcraft!"

He fired again, hit again. Rose was once again gone. John turned around again.

"Now, where were we-"

Pearl pointed behind him. John turned around, she was there again.

"Why won't you die?!" John shouted. Blah, blah, blah; shot, dust, gone. John threw the Gem out of the window this time, just to be sure. "Now, let's continue-"

"She's just gonna come back," Garnet interrupted. And sure enough, she was standing there again just after the words escaped Garnet's mouth.

John tried one last time, but he was out of bullets. He screamed in both anger and disbelief, and then ran away, past Rose and out of the house.

* * *

><p>Gospel John was captured and taken into custody soon after fleeing from the house. He was tried, found guilty, locked away, and then everyone forgot about him. It was probably for the best.<p>

The Delmarva Church of the Latter Day Salvation was immediately closed and abandoned, though never demolished. It still stands to this day.

Garnet and Pearl did their best to forget about John's attack. Sometimes they would see one or two faces from that night in the city, but from then on, they didn't talk about it. They wouldn't let other people define who they were; they were the Crystal Gems, nothing more and nothing less.

Rose found that man Greg a few days later, and gave her a free ticket to his next concert. He was a struggling musician, and he could use all the support he could get.

The rest, they say, is history.


End file.
